A THREEQUARTERS of a million pound project comes to fruition this weekend with the official opening of Shaarei Tefillah Synagogue’s new building on the corner of Bury New Road and Sedgley Park Road, Prestwich.
The congregation, which now has more than 100 members, began with only nine men in 1992 in the Richmond Avenue, Prestwich, home of founder member Rabbi Moishe Segal.
Three years later, the congregation bought what then was a Methodist church on the site, using the church hall for services.
The new synagogue, which can seat 230 men and another 80 women in a gallery, will eventually have one-way glass to enable the women to see the service.
It has taken five years from the planning stage.
At last night’s mezzuzah-laying ceremony, the congregation was renamed Shaarei Mordeche in gratitude to a large donor, former Manchester Shechita Board president Mordechai Weiss, whose name is also marked on Kings Road’s Beis Mordeche Synagogue to which he also donated.
However, Rabbi Segal adds that donations are still needed to pay for the project, which includes an ornate Ark as well as a beth hamedrash which can be divided into three separate areas for shiurim.
Donations payable to BHST should be sent to Rabbi M Segal, 26 Richmond Avenue, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0LZ.
The congregation holds a celebratory kiddush on Shabbat, followed by a dinner in the winter.